I want to thank my colleague for the question.
It's a very good question, and I think it's comprehensive in that it, first of all, addresses the need to invest in health care on a regular basis. That addresses the rising cost of care, and I mentioned in my last response that this is exactly our intention. It's $49 billion this year, a significant increase, and that was specifically to help public health care start to adjust to the increasing costs all provinces and territories are facing.
I had an opportunity to meet with Minister McCann on Friday, and she is pleased with the work we're doing and looks forward to further conversations about how we could ensure that health care is strong and robust in Quebec as well as all across the country. As part of that, I think you're absolutely right. I think we take for granted, sometimes, the public health care system we have. Then, when there is a crisis like coronavirus, we realize that we should not be attacking, for example, local public health, which has been the case in Ontario, and things that are extremely useful in protecting the health of Canadians.
We will continue to make those investments and we will continue to work with the provinces and territories on escalators that are responsible and that meet the needs of Canadians. I'm looking forward to the meeting with my colleagues about transfers very shortly, in early May.
I will also say, in terms of home and palliative care, that there was an additional $11 billion directly funded to provinces and territories over 10 years for home and community care, and that includes palliative care. We know there's always more to do, and we know that better palliative care is something we hear about all the time. I certainly think this is an important step forward in that work.